Reaction: Comfortably Home

Roberto Di Matteo's dream start continues... 

In the end it turned out to be just another day in the office for Chelsea, as they comfortably beat Newcastle 2-0 & maintained their perfect start to the Premier League campaign. Goals from Eden Hazard & Fernando Torres were more than enough to guarantee 3 points against a Newcastle side that often lacked the cutting edge needed.


Summary

The first half was pretty much all Chelsea, as the home team kept possession for long periods of time & constantly looked to create chances. In the 20th minute, Fernando Torres was brought down by Vurnon Anita to give Chelsea their 3rd penalty from as many games. In the absence of Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard stepped up to take the penalty, & duly converted. Chelsea continued to push forward & look for that second goal, & it came just before half-time, Torres & Hazard with some lovely inter-passing before Torres unleashed a deceptively powerful strike to double Chelsea's lead.

The second half saw Newcastle constantly push forward in search of a goal, while Chelsea were happy to sit back & defend. Newcastle did manage to test Cech a couple of times but it was nothing the big man couldn't handle. Chelsea had a few chances to seal the game (most notably 2 free-kicks outside the area that were blasted over by Luiz & Meireles respectively) but didn't take them. In the end it didn't matter, & Chelsea managed to secure a comfortable victory to consolidate their position on top of the table.

Robbie's Reaction

Di Matteo was happy with the performance in general. "People will talk about the goalscorers but I was very pleased with our performance considering it was our third game in six days and we were playing against probably our toughest opposition".

Once again, he was all praise for Eden Hazard. "Hazard has quite a lot of assists and it was good for him to get his first goal, and the second goal from Torres was terrific play by us.

But it is not just Torres linking with Hazard. He has a very good link up and understanding with Mata and the other midfield players, and the whole team."

He was also full of praise for Fernando Torres. "Torres was very important for us last season, maybe not scoring as much but providing and working hard for the team. He is a great team player as well. I know we ask strikers to score but not only that."

He was also happy with centre-back pairing, considering the fact that this was our 3rd different pairing in as many games. "We have three internationals we are using in the central defence position and we will need all three to be that strong, so it is great that the partnerships are working whichever two are playing. For us to be successful it is what we need. "

360 Reaction

All in all, it was exactly the type of performance one would hope for. The team looked good going forward, & were also extremely stable at the back, something even Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was quick to point out. Eden Hazard managed to live up to his surname yet again, & Fernando Torres was brimming with confidence. The midfield duo of Mikel & Meireles looked excellent. Amazingly, there is not one Chelsea player who's performance one can fault, because the entire team did well. With the UEFA Super Cup nearly upon us, it's a good sign that Chelsea are finally managing to fulfill their potential as a team. Hazard has managed to share the job of being the creative spark with Mata, which can only be a good thing. Throw in the fact that Chelsea have recently signed Cesar Azpilicueta & Victor Moses (don't forget that Marko Marin will also add a little something extra to the attack), & one cannot help but foresee exciting times ahead for Chelsea Football Club.

Shayne Dias

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